Throwback Thursday: October 22, 2026

In today's edition of Throwback Thursday, we revisit my B-BEAR technique and other tips for making safer changes on live databases.

Throwback Thursday: October 22, 2026

With over a million words scattered across more than 1,800 articles on this blog, you've probably missed a few things here.

That’s why each week in "Throwback Thursday," we’ll revisit some standout posts. Expect a blend of my personal favorites, insightful articles from other great minds, and a touch of coding humor to keep things light.


Highlights from NoLongerSet.com

B-BEAR: Quick and Dirty SQL Server Testing
Begin, Before, Execute, After, Rollback. This technique makes testing your SQL Server statements a snap.
Using PRINT to Improve Safety of Live SQL Server Updates
[Me]: Let's DELETE 5 records. [SSMS]: (7,393,253 rows affected) [Me]: {Updates LinkedIn profile: "#OPENTOWORK"} Avoid nasty SQL surprises with this easy technique.
5 Tips for Making Changes on Live SQL Server Databases
Making database changes on production? These 5 tips will make one of the most dangerous programming activities a little bit safer.

Developer Humor

I may take my defensive programming approach a bit too far at times...

Panel 1: Pat, holding a printout, asks Ace, who is seated at an Access form: 'Can you fix one phone number in the customer table?' Ace, grinning: 'Of course!' Panel 2, forty minutes later: Ace stands at a whiteboard listing BEGIN TRAN, BEFORE, EXECUTE, AFTER, ROLLBACK and explains: '...then we ROLLBACK, compare before and after, and only then run it for real.' Pat looks exhausted. Panel 3: Seth, the bearded veteran, holding a mug, says flatly: 'Done. I opened the table and typed it.' Ace, horrified, shouts: 'IN PROD?!'

Cover image generated by Ideogram

All original code samples by Mike Wolfe are licensed under CC BY 4.0